1999 Citroen Saxo Reviews - Page 6 of 17

1999 Citroen Saxo 1.1 East Coast 1.1 from UK and Ireland

Summary:

Not good enough handling for a little hatchback

Faults:

Brake pads and shoes needed replacing.

General Comments:

For a 1.1, the saxo is a nippy little car. I had mine up to 110mph with four in the car.

Only bad thing is to get the car to that speed you needed to drive it hard, foot to the floor all the time which resulted in a lot of fuel used. I was putting in twenty quid a night just to go driving for a few hours with my mates.

The fuel gauge wasn't any good either. Tank shows half empty, put a tenner in and it is full. Another time it shows half empty, put twenty quid in and it is only two thirds full! work that one out!

Not enough room in the back of the car, people always complaining of cramp, and when they try to climb out of the 3-door, the door trims kept on getting bashed and ruined.

Rubbish handling. Car was soon to be written off by going round a corner. Not a sharp corner mind you, only a small slight corner. The car slid out doing about 40mph (most cars will take this corner about 70mph no troubles). Ended up spinning round in the road, hitting a bank, up on two wheel through this dirt track, hit a tree and ended up half the car over a riverbank.

12th Jun 2003, 03:50

You should of got a VTR/VTS, I've never been in a car with so much grip (even my old mini!). You do have to drive them hard, and as a result they do rattle and shake a bit after a few years - but great fun!

29th Aug 2005, 18:16

I think the handling aspect of the Saxo is mainly down to the driver. The car has very light steering, maybe slightly too light. However, I had a Saxo 1.1i which stuck to the road, very reliable.

Even when crashing head on into a wall after sliding on some black ice at about 50 mph, myself and my 4 mates would have been killed. We all walked out of the car with only minor injuries. Saxo's are very tough little cars, just got to treat them right in terms of handling.